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Sunday, June 28, 2009

This beauty of a model comes from Forgeworld. From the first moment I saw a teaser pic of him off of BOLS, I knew he'd be mine ;)

The real task for me was making him both appropriately "nurgly" and still keeping him Black Legion to fit with the rest of my Chaos Space Marine army. This presented some challenges, as my gut just wanted me to paint him up in Death Legion colors to really get the point across ... but then he'd be an outsider. So I was left with keeping his armour black and gold, while focusing on the exposed skin and the breaks in the armour to get the Nurgle touches in.

The skin-tone was fun. All of the fleshy stuff was base-coated in Dheneb Stone. This was followed by a heavy Ogryn Flesh wash. When that was dry, I hit those areas of flesh that felt like they REALLY got the Nurgle-rot with a Thraka Green wash. Now, as you can see in the sections of his arm above, this blended with the already Ogryn Fleshed areas to make a truly sickening green. These areas were then even coated with 'Ardcoat to make them seem shiny and still wet. My wife can hardly look at this model, it makes her want to retch.

Awesome. :)

The areas on his stomach looked extra corroded, and all my biology classes in college certainly did not go to waste in getting this gruesome detail. These areas looked like they were beneath the skin layer, so I painted them to look like subcutaneous fat would. They were based with Iyanden Darksun and then washed with Baal Red, to look like semi-bloody yellowish fat. The large section was touched with a bit of green too.

The black armour was based in Charadon Granite, washed with Badab Black, then highlighted with Codex Grey.

The bright green effects were Scorpion Green, strategically washed with Thraka Green. The effect on the blade was taken further with some Devlan Mud to get it to completely blend into the blade.

Rust effects was a very light drybrush of Solar Macharius Orange. It's not a bright orange, which is why I like it for this purpose. Be sure to really dry out that brush, it's a foundation paint which means it goes on thicker than you expect.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

One of the Eldar player's most useful and resilient Heavy Support options: The Wraithlord.

WS: 4, BS: 4, S: 10, T: 8, W: 3, I: 4, A: 2, Ld: 10, Sv: 3+

The things that make this undead construct so nightmarish for the Eldar opponents is the combination of T: 8, W:3, Sv: 3+. That's a pain to kill. You have zero chance to even wound this thing unless you're using a weapon with a Strength of 5 or more. On top of that, its got 3 wounds. They're quite the indomitable force.

Eldar Wraithlords are Monstrous Creatures, and take up a Heavy Support slot. Let's look at some of their abilities:

Fearless: Not being alive can help out... I guess. Also, given its high Toughness and Armour Save, it's unlikely that it will lose a close-combat round, or take wounds should it lose.

Wraithsight: Similar to Wraithguard, the Wraithlord must be within 6" of a friendly psyker or risk being inactive for a turn (determined by rolling a 1 on a d6). The obvious way to get around this is to have it tag along with a Farseer or unit with Warlock. Also note that the range is 12" if the psyker in question has the Spiritseer upgrade.

Monstrous Creature: Easy targets, yet extra killy in Close Combat.

Equipment:

Wraithlords cost 90 points. On top of this, you must buy the rest of their equipment:

Starcannon (30 pts): Great anti Elite (or SM) weapon, given its AP 2
Brightlance (40 pts): Arguably the Eldar's best anti-vehicle weapon, due to its Lance rule, meaning it will Glance on a 4 and Penetrate on a 5+ against a Landraider.
Scatter Laser (20 pts): Great anti-infantry weapon; S 6, Heavy 4. insta-kills anything with a Toughness of 3 (IG!)
Shuriken Cannon (10 pts): Also a good anti-infantry weapon; S 6, Assault 3. Shorter range than the Scatter Laser, but also half the cost. If you have the points, take the laser.
Eldar Missile Launcher (25 pts): The most versatile option, allowing both Krak and Plasma (Frag equivalent) missiles.
Wraithsword (10 pts): Allows re-rolls to hit in Close Combat.

You must take one of them, and are allowed to take a second (of all but the sword). Duplicate weapons become Twin-Linked. Now, because the Wraithlord is a Monstrous Creature, it can fire up to two weapons (Heavies too) on the move. Because of this, I would recommend not Twin-Linking your weaponry, and rather taking another weapon of a similar role to enhance your firepower.

What role should you use with your Wraithlord?

The Weapons Platform. Giving your Wraithlord two long-range shooting weapons gives you the option of shooting from afar, and being a rather destructive nuisance to your opponent.
If you feel your Army list needs more anti-vehicle, go with the Bright Lance and Missile Launcher combo. With a S 8 Lance, and a S8 Missile both firing, you have a serious threat every turn.
If you're looking for more anti-infantry, take any combination of Scatter Laser, Starcannon, and Shuriken Cannon, depending on how much anti-Elite or anti-powerarmour you need.

The SwordLord. One thing I've done before a few times is take a Wraithsword/Bright Lance combo. This Wraithlord will tromp directly towards enemy vehicles, firing off the Bright Lance, and charge them if it can get close enough. A charging Wraithlord has 3 Attacks, all at Strength 10. This is death to vehicles. It only takes getting them in slapping range once to instill the fear in your opponent. A SwordLord is admittedly not the most effective at causing destruction, as a savvy opponent can kite, avoid and eventually bring it down with focused fire. However, even in these situations, it's a great distraction. It's sure to last a few rounds at the very least, and you can use it to herd your opponent around the map and keep the more destructive firepower away from your other units, like a Fire Prism or Falcon Grav-Tank.

One effective anti-SwordLord tactic I've seen used is to tar-pit it with a good number of small crap units. If it gets into melee with a bunch of nothing units like Termagaunts, it's wasted. At best, it can only kill 2 gaunts a round (3 on charge) and will not finish off the squad before game's end. A great tactic to keep in mind if you face Eldar regularly, or if you field Wraithlords regularly. Be wary of the small things that can tie you up in a useless combat.

So, what are the most useful ways in which you've used or seen a Wraithlord used?

Monday, June 8, 2009

Following with the Eldar fluff, these constructs are piloted by the spirits of powerful dead Eldar. I would like to think that some of the personality of those powerful Eldar spirits would show through in the construct. With that in mind, I made the old one to resemble an Autarch. Straight-backed, sword and Bright Lance, regal cape with Alaitoc symbol emblazoned upon it.

This is my second Wraithlord, which I just finished late last night:
As may be apparent, I wanted the feel for this Wraithlord to be a Ranger/Pathfinder. I kept the yellow head, but made it a camo pattern, as well as the cloak/cape. Also, I made a pair of conversions which I'm sure you've seen before based on the "masterclass" model was showcased on GW's site (also featured in the 5th ed. rulebook). Ron Saikowski even did one.
Knees slightly bent, and turned the Brightlance into a Rifle with a bit chopped off the sword.

The Missile Launcher is magnetized.

Here are pics of the other magnetized weapons:

I am planning on doing a third Wraithlord at some point, but the feel of that one will be very static, your typical "dead" looking Wraithlord.

I'm sorry things have been rather slow around here lately. I'm in the process of buying a house. I must say it is the single most stressful, anxious, exhausting and nerve-wracking process I've ever been through. A lot of these past days have seen me come home and be so worn out from dealing with getting everything in line for Escrow to close that I can't even bring myself to enjoy the hobby.

Thankfully this weekend has been a reprieve, and I was actually able to relax for the first time in 3 weeks. Hence the finished Wraithlord.